VANCEBORO – Kaylee Koerperich is a force in the post. Jasmine Raynor is another scorer and a skillful ball-handler for the fourth-ranked West Craven Eagles.

The seniors are proving the girls’ basketball team has more than Jamie Cherry.

Koeperich and Raynor have been solid components for four years on the continuously improving Eagles.

They’ve been through 83 wins and two trips to the regionals in Fayetteville. They were one win shy of a state championship appearance last season.

But in their final year, the duo has stepped their play up another level.

Koeperich, a 5-foot-10 forward, is averaging 7.3 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.

She has two double-doubles. She posted 14 points against Broughton and grabbed 11 rebounds against Jacksonville and East Carteret.

“My role is rebounding,” Koerperich said. “I feel like my game has gotten better from last year.

“Offensively, I feel like they trust me to give me the ball, especially if they are not shooting well from the outside.”

Raynor, a crafty 5-foot-6 guard, is scoring nearly 10 points per game to go with 5.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.3 steals.

Raynor’s scored in double figures on seven occasions, with a season-high 24 points against East Carteret. She dished out a season-best 10 assists versus Swansboro.

“They look for me to score when I can and try to get other players open, and be able to control and handle the ball,” Raynor said.

The contributions from Koerperich and Raynor take pressure off star Jamie Cherry (31.7 points per game), a North Carolina signee.

Their chemistry is so phenomenal because they’ve played together prior to high school.

“We’ve been playing together for five years now so the chemistry is there,” Raynor said. “We know how each other plays, and that helps us.”

Koerperich and Raynor have each improved on their scoring by nearly three points from last season. Koeperich has four more rebounds per game than she did in 2012-13.

“They’ve been doing a great job this whole season,” Cherry said. “Last year, they stepped up and it’s carrying over to this season.

“Jasmine has taken on the role of distributing the ball and making shots when she needs to and Kaylee is owning the boards.”

The Eagles have a bunch of guards on the squad, but just two post-players, which puts some burden on Koeperich. Last year, they had Nyeesha Roundtree as a complimentary piece.

“It definitely puts pressure on me to work hard in practice that way I am able to play a whole game if necessary,” Koeperich said. “We are a team that takes a lot of outside shots. It’s good to get in there and help my teammates out.”

Koerperich and Raynor both aspire to play basketball at the next level. Raynor is signed to play at Division II Anderson (S.C.) University, while Koerperich may join the same school as a walk-on.

The Eagles are 14-1 entering Tuesday’s game with rival Havelock. The only loss was to Chapel Hill in the HighSchoolOT Holiday Invitational Dec. 27.

West Craven’s seniors are expecting a big push toward the state championship.

“Our focus is to make it to the state championship,” Koerperich said. “We know we have a big team (Chapel Hill) that we could see.

“Every year, we’ve made it a step further than the year before. We are hoping to take it all the way.”